The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.

Britain’s sculling fortunes have gone from strength to strength during the past decade, with Townsend a key figure in that process.

Townsend has been an ever-present in the quad during this Olympiad and helped to secure GB’s first-ever World Championship medals in the boat – bronze in 2013 and silver in 2014.

Now the 30-year-old has his sights firmly set on a gold medal at this summer’s Olympics, with the next big step on the road to Rio being the announcement of the European Championships squad on April 6 – the first selection of the Olympic season.

Do we really believe we can go out there and get that gold in Rio? I certainly do

“That is an attitude we have always taken – we want that competition, we want to help people get better,” said Townsend, a graduate of GB Rowing Team Start who first took up the sport after being identified as a potential rowing champion while a pupil at Chiltern Edge School in Sonning Common.

“That ethos has helped the whole group push on. We have people desperate to make seats and that competition will ultimately end with high-quality boats that can hopefully medal at the Olympics.

“We know we have quality in our squad and it’s going to be down to how well we train, how well we gel. Do we really believe we can go out there and get that gold in Rio? I certainly do and I am pretty confident the rest of the boys do as well.”